PORTAGE -- Mayor Peter Strazdas was intrigued, then skeptical, when he was asked in late February if he would conduct a wedding ceremony.

"I'd never performed a wedding, so actually it was a request that interested me," Strazdas said. "But when I was told the wedding would be April 1, I thought, 'OK, I get it, an April Fool's Day joke.'"

Turns out the request was not a hoax.

On Tuesday afternoon, Strazdas did something for the first time in his three years as mayor when he united long-time Portage residents Greg Walters and Cindy Woodruff in a 10-minute service at City Hall.

State law allows mayors to officiate marriages, an act Strazdas said he doubted many people know exists.

"Quite frankly, I had to get a hold of some documents from the Michigan Municipal League to verify that for myself," said Strazdas, who did not accept financial compensation for the service.

Woodruff, 48, said the City Hall ceremony had more appeal than a courtroom service overseen by a justice of the peace.

"It was the second marriage for both of us, so the church wedding wasn't necessary and the justice of the peace just didn't seem as personal," Woodruff said. "A friend of mine had mentioned the mayor could legally perform the wedding, so that's where the ball got rolling."

Strazdas said he researched sample vows until he found one that he thought was appropriate. Strazdas stuck to the script even though he had the opportunity to interject his own words of wisdom.

"I thought about that but decided I would have felt a little awkward," Strazdas said. "A person of religion would have been in a better position to talk about love and the sacredness of marriage."

Woodruff praised Strazdas' performance.

"Well, if he was nervous or anything, he didn't show it," Woodruff said. "He carried himself very well, and it was an honor to have him perform our ceremony."